Coalmines and Canaries
by ThiessenClocks
Summary: While Benji and his team are busy tracking down a hacker, Skye is tasked to find an elusive contract killer. Neither of them knows what they're in for. Rated T for violence and cursing.
1. Chapter 1

_Author's note: I know it's been 84 years, so I won't keep you long, more from me at the end. I just wanted to thank Ellster for beta-reading and making this story better. The character Skye Holt is my own, the best introduction to her is probably my story Dunn and Dusted, but this one works without prior knowledge too. Time-wise this is set between Rogue Nation and Fallout. I hope you'll enjoy it. I'll post a new chapter every day. Cheers x_

* * *

**Coalmines and Canaries**

Someone had entered the flat. She had heard the front door close, then voices. Her brother, and a woman. Which was unusual. He hadn't told her anything about visitors. Maybe a neighbour had come over for some reason? But that had never happened before either. She stood up from her computer and left her room.

"Where are you going?"

"Sshh," she said, and held a finger up to her lips. She wasn't entirely sure why, she just wanted to see who had come in. "Wait here." She pushed him into the closet. He smiled, like it was a game. "I'll be right back."

He just mimicked her gesture of putting a finger to his lips.

She nodded brightly, then carefully proceeded to the kitchen on her own. She didn't turn on the lights, just peaked around the corner to get a look.

She saw the woman first. An elegant dress too nice for this part of town, long legs, short black hair styled in a flattering fringe that accentuated her facial features. She was reaching for something.

A green shimmer flickered over her face as she watched from the dark. She wasn't sure why, but she felt completely frozen. Goosebumps coated her body as the woman calmly said her brother's name.

He turned around.

And the woman fired a single shot.

She watched her brother fall backwards, moan once, and that was it.

A flash illuminated the kitchen further. The woman had tucked her weapon away and taken a picture. Now she bent down and picked up the dead body.

She stopped watching. She wanted to cry, but couldn't make a sound. She just felt utterly cold. As silently as she could she made her way back to the closet.

She didn't want to be alone.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Room service."

Yusuf and Luther looked up from their computers, to see Skye enter their hacking cave.

"Did our intern quit again?" Yusuf asked grinning, happy at the sight of fresh food.

"He didn't need much convincing to trade the job for one shift. You should open a window," Skye greeted them. "BLT as always?"

Yusuf nodded eagerly.

"And ham and cheese for you."

"Thanks, kid," Luther smiled.

She placed two large boxes she had been carrying along with the sandwich bags on the table. "These are _spandauer, _cinnamon rolls, and apples. You can fight for it."

"Apples as in apple pie?"

"No, apples as in apples. You need some vitamins."

"We love you," Yusuf said earnestly.

"Morning," Benji said sleepily when he entered the main room of the secret safe house. His foot met an empty soda can, which rolled over and hit a precarious stack of similar cans that subsequently toppled to the floor. He just sighed, circumvented the chaos and went to the desk.

"Morning," Luther and Yusuf answered in chewing unison.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Benji asked cheerfully when he spotted Skye. She looked smart in her light grey blouse with the small colourful hummingbird embroidered near the left shoulder. It made him very aware of his four-days-old shirt. When she presented him with a sandwich, he kissed her on the cheek.

"Just waiting until the call for my next mission comes through. Any day now, I can feel it." She took a seat and helped herself to a _spandauer_, probably her personal favourite of Danish pastries. "Unless you mind company for a lunch break."

"You mean breakfast," Benji said, already firing up his computer.

"Dinner, in my case," Luther said.

"We're working shifts," Yusuf explained, "so that someone's always on him. Zhen and Crover are asleep right now."

"Wow, they're going all in on this one," Skye said impressed.

"They would," Yusuf said and combed a hand through his thick black curls. "Thorpwind Funds was just the beginning. Just think of all the money involved. He's this close to satellite access, and then we're toast."

"Can't wait to find him," Luther said. "He'll get recruited on the spot."

"Yeah," Benji agreed, sounding dismayed.

"Jealous?" Skye teased him.

"He's good," Benji said. "Really good. And I've been on him for so long now that they've assigned me a team. And still nothing."

"Are you getting closer?" she asked.

"We're certainly close," Yusuf said vaguely.

Benji turned to Skye. "What do you think of when you hear forty?" he asked thoughtfully.

"Here we go again," Yusuf mumbled and rolled his eyes.

Luther chuckled without looking up from his screen.

Skye ignored them. "Forty like the number?"

Benji nodded. "Yes."

"Any context?"

"Just say what you think."

"Mh. Forty..." Skye mumbled it a couple of times, switching first accents, then languages. "Fyrre, quaranta, quarante..." Then she shook her head. "Nothing, sorry. Just a number."

"Told you," Yusuf chimed in.

"Mh," Benji said, then realised she was waiting for an explanation. He motioned at the computer. "The guy we've been following – in all of his work there is this forty, randomly inserted somewhere. I can't make any sense of it. I'm thinking it's just some sort of signature. Like a tag."

"I told him tags don't have to mean anything," Yusuf said. "And two numbers that happen to show up are probably random code."

"You're just upset because we don't get to tag anymore since we're on government business," Luther grinned. "But tags have gone out of style anyway. The last people who could pull them off were the Canaries, and they all died or disappeared."

"Who were they?" Skye asked curiously.

Yusuf, Luther and Benji stared at Skye collectively until Luther had the mercy to say something. He shook his head. "Oh, kiddo."

Yusuf turned to Benji. "How can you live with someone who doesn't know that?"

"Will someone enlighten me?" Skye interrupted.

"Seriously, how have you not heard of them?" Yusuf continued incredulously.

"This coming from a guy I had to explain to who Bon Scott is," she retorted.

He made an 'Alright, fine'-face.

"They were a group of hackers," Benji explained. "Really good hackers. Always got into all sorts of high-profile things, mostly governments, but never did anything except tagging. Just to show that they could."

"Drove everyone nuts," Luther took over. "But causing paranoia was their thing."

"And why Canaries?"

"The French secret service managed to pinpoint them to the Canary Islands once. Turned out to be a cold trail of course, they were too good, but they used the islands as code names for the hackers from then on," Benji went on.

"I was assigned to La Gomera myself," Luther said with a trace of pride. "Gave me a good race. Eventually they just stopped. Probably got too hot for them out there, because they had everyone after them."

Luther chose to omit the fact that he had actually found La Gomera – physically at that, not just in the obscurity of cyberspace. He had turned out to be a young guy, still half a kid. Luther had offered him to join the IMF with his skill set, but the hacker had refused. Said he had people to take care of, that he couldn't leave. And Luther had let him go. It had seemed right at the time. To this day he wasn't quite sure whether or not he regretted it.

He quit his musings when the others kept talking.

"The thing is that they caught on to that and used their code names as their tags. Just left random messages about Gran Canaria everywhere. Imagine the insult," Yusuf said with admiration in his voice.

"Not that anything of that matters to us now," Benji said and sighed, looking back at his computer.

"Maybe it's a message?" Skye suggested, getting the conversation back on track.

Benji shook his head. "How can it be a message if its only ever one number? There's nothing else attached to it."

"Is it the word forty or actual numbers?" the Dane asked.

"Numbers," Benji said.

"Maybe it's not a signature, but a dedication? 'For Ty'?"

"Could be..." Benji said thoughtfully, intrigued by this new idea.

"Ty could be short for Tyrone for instance. Or it's just the initial T."

"I think..." The 'you might be on to something' was lost when Benji's fist met the table. "Dammit!"

Yusuf flinched, but Skye didn't. Her eyebrows climbed.

"Four zero," Benji said, equal parts excited and annoyed, as if that explained everything.

"So?" Luther asked, finally looking up at his fellow techie.

"For zero. It's for nothing. As in nothing's gonna come off it. He's mocking me." Benji looked like he was suppressing further cursing.

"But that's also just a theory," Skye said gently.

"No, I'm right. I know it. I found this guy, and I've been on to him for weeks now. Weeks! And he knows I'm there, but still manages to always stay one step ahead. It's pure derision!"

Skye smiled quietly, but stopped quickly before he could see it. Instead she put a hand on his shoulder. "You're gonna catch him. You always catch them."

Benji sighed and slumped back into his chair. "We don't even have an island to name him after. We're working with John Doe and the like." He put down his sandwich and resumed typing.

Skye smiled. The lack of cool code names was a very Benji-esque problem.

"But maybe today is the big breakthrough," he continued, apparently already happy again. "I spent the last two days building a trap for him, and last night it went into action. It went through so many different servers that it just has to find a trace of his IP, and then we might get a location." Benji opened a programme, typed in a long password and pressed enter. "I left it running over night, so now we should have enough data to-"  
Benji's screen went black. He flinched. Skye straightened.

"Guys, we have a breach," Benji said.

Skye stayed out of the way, but watched intrigued. She loved seeing Benji in his element like this. Utterly calm, yet alert, hiding his distress expertly because he knew he could do this. Things were happening fast.

"I'm out, too," Luther said at his black screen.

"He's found us," Yusuf said, and already fired up another laptop that had been lying on the ground until now. "I'll trace it on the separate server."

Letters appeared on Benji's screen, white on black, running through several thousand random combinations at top speed before settling on four words that took up the middle of the screen.

**The future is Cinister **

"He's in our network. Right now. That means we got him." Benji inhaled, but it wasn't out of despair over the breach, it was pure excitement that things were moving. "What are you trying to say..." he murmured, thoroughly mesmerised.

"That he needs a dictionary," Skye said dryly.

Benji smiled, but never looked away from the screen. "No. This is more than that."

The letters changed up again, even faster than before.

**Check out Times Square **

Skye frowned. "Is it just me or does that sound bad?"

"On it," Luther, who had also moved to an unconnected computer, said.

Benji stood up, went around their desk and looked over Luther's shoulder. Skye followed.

"Twitter?" she asked.

"Fastest way to see if anything's going on," Luther said unimpressed. "There we go. The hashtag is #TimesSquareHack."

"That was quick," she said.

"Try that one," Benji said and pointed.

Luther nodded and clicked on the video. Shaky footage, filmed in portrait mode on an older phone, judging by the quality, showed smog-grey New York sky before shifting downwards. The odd scream could be heard among distressed shouts and murmurs all around. The famous buildings plastered in advertisement screens came into view, and all of them showed the same black screen with white lettering. _The future is Cinister._ The screens were so dark that the entire square seemed to be in shadow because of it.

That's happening right now, Skye reminded herself. How is that even possible?

"Your phone, love."

Benji's voice brought her back to matters at hand. Her mobile was indeed ringing. "Sorry. Holt?" she answered. "I'm on my way." Skye hung up and pocketed her phone, already heading for the door. "Just when it started to get interesting. I have to go. Good luck, guys."

"You, too," three voices echoed back in unison.


	2. Chapter 2

"Good morning, Agent Holt. The picture you secured on your last mission has finally got a hit. While there was nothing in our data bases, the person codenamed Orca was spotted less than an hour ago in Minneapolis. You're on your way there now."

That's good to know, Skye thought, who had boarded the plane without knowledge of her destination.

"Intel suggests that Orca is connected to more than a dozen assassinations of both civilians and public figures over the past year. As of now it is unclear who her employers are, but she was seen entering the Minneapolis Institute of Art. We suggest you start your investigation there. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to bring Orca in to prevent further bloodshed. A security transport is standing by and awaiting your call.

"As always, should you in the course of your actions be caught or killed, the secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions. Good luck, Agent Holt. This message will self-destruct in five seconds."

/\/\/\/\/\/\

Agent Holt did not care for the art displayed around her. Benji wasn't the only one who had been after someone for way too long. And while Skye at least had a codename to call her target, it didn't make the ongoing search any less frustrating. Two weeks ago, after days of stake-out in San Antonio, Skye had been close – and then still all she got was a picture from the hidden camera she had installed. All they could do was run the photo through facial recognition, and even that had taken its sweet time. It never ceased to amaze her how some people managed to stay hidden in this day and age, in places that were littered with security cameras at that.

Well. Not for much longer.

The corridor ahead of her was broad and white, with big columns breaking up the sequence of windows to her left and large framed paintings taking up the wall space between doorless entryways to several rooms on her right. Without moving too fast, she glanced into each room before she went on, making sure it was either empty or taken up by civilians.

No one who looked even remotely like Orca. Despite her deadly profession, there was something mesmerising about the woman that Skye couldn't deny. The agent had studied the quick snapshot for days now, after all it was all she had to go on. Orca wasn't beautiful in the conventional sense, but if her sharp Hispanic cheekbones made her eyes stand out like this in the photo already, it had to be a sight to remember once seen face to face. She had short dark hair, the fringe side-swept over her high forehead, and was tall with an athletic built that spoke of regular training and suggested she could jump at you like a released metal coil.

Skye paused in front of a random painting and checked the brochure she had snatched at the museum's entrance. It showed a crude lay-out of the gallery. She knew she was relying on luck, there was simply too much ground to cover to find one person in time. For all she knew, Orca could have left the building again already.

Steps were approaching, high-heels tapping on the sleek ground. Too fast for a casual visitor. Skye didn't even move her head, just stuck to studying the leaflet in her hands. The high-heels passed her and stopped several metres further along the corridor. The agent ventured a glance. A woman in a dark blazer was dropping a paper bag into a rubbish bin. Something about the action seemed wrong. Too determined. As if that was the sole purpose of her visit. She paused for a second, then walked away. Skye committed her to memory, the brown hair in a strict bun, the all-business shoes, her height, her built. As she rounded the corner, Skye could see her profile, a pointy nose barely supporting thick glasses.

The agent wasted no time and crossed over to the rubbish bin. She opened the paper bag that sat on top and saw green. Neatly stacked bundles of hundred-dollar bills. It had to add up to several thousand. Skye reached in, took one of the wads of money and slid a small chip between the bills. It was paper-thin and hopefully wouldn't be found until Orca felt safe enough to go through the money more thoroughly. The tracking range wasn't great, but Skye intended to stay close.

The tagging had taken her all of nine seconds before Skye closed the paper bag again and was on her way. Finding Orca would be nice and all, but finding the assassin's employer was even better.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

The woman in the blazer hadn't been hard to follow. She had left the museum and continued downtown by car. Private chauffeur, Skye guessed. She had followed in a taxi and done the last bit on foot. Now she stood in front of a high building in the financial district. Through the glass door she had seen her target take the elevator to the eighth floor. The floor that, according to a helpful plaque in front of her, held Thorpwind Funds. Interesting.

Skye paused for a coffee across the street. She checked her phone. The tracer was transmitting, but she was out of range at the moment. It was impossible to tell if the money had been moved yet, but she was confident to stay on Orca's track once she was done here.

For now, Skye decided to search Thorpwind Funds. After skimming the company's website, she found her latest target was the CEO of the financial administration. Why would someone like Janice McCrellish need to pay an assassin?

Of course Skye found nothing about the recent security breach, which had left hundreds of heavy accounts exposed for three days due to an unexplained hack. The exact amounts lost in that period were undisclosed.

It was a miracle that there was no press about the incident.

Skye finished her coffee and crossed the street.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Mrs McCrellish."

The woman in front of her had light blond hair and sounded European. The CEO guessed she was in her thirties. She wasn't exactly tall, but her dark blue trench coat helped. She also had a notebook, which was disturbing since it usually meant people were about to write things down.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" Janice McCrellish responded curtly.

"Penny Voorman. Washington Post."

Damn it. She extended a hand, and Janice shook it, attempting to cover up her miserable expression. "I was unaware of any appointments with the press."

"Your secretary was kind enough to schedule a short interview. Of course, if you'd rather read that you refused to comment concerning the breach in your security, that can be arranged." Voorman smiled sweetly.

McCrellish pushed her glasses back up her nose and gritted her teeth behind a concrete smile. She made a mental note to have a word with Zara, her personal secretary, once this was over. Maybe she'd fire her later. "Why don't we sit down. Can I offer you something to drink?"

"No, thank you. I'd much rather know how many of your customers' millions you lost while their accounts were open to the public for three days."

"Where did you get this information?"

"I never reveal my sources, Mrs McCrellish."

"Look, Miss -"

"Voorman."

"Miss Voorman. Whatever happened, happened, and it was unfortunate. But the insurance covered all losses, so our clients didn't take any damage. And ever since we've taken steps to make sure our security matches our high standards." Janice leaned forward on her desk and looked at the other woman as if they were about to strike a deal. "You seem like a smart woman, so I'm going to be honest with you. We've managed to keep this on the low, avoided bad press. I thought it was over when nothing happened after a week. But now you're here after all, and we both know the only thing that can happen to us now is if you run your story and go public that the most secure private bank of the country was hacked. We'd be ruined, no question."

McCrellish almost smiled. She could sense that Voorman hadn't expected that much honesty from the get-go. She hadn't even taken notes so far. The CEO continued, "So how much do you want?"

"Excuse me?"

"What's your price to not run the story? Fifty thousand?"

The journalist looked intrigued. For a second Janice thought she had her. "And are you gonna pay me out of your own pocket or take it from the company funds? Or maybe even straight from a client's account, since the insurance pays without anyone even noticing?"

Janice gasped, about to respond, but Voorman already went on.

"I wonder what else you're willing to pay for with money that isn't yours. It would be really easy for you to set up a fake account in your own domain and divert a few hundred thousand here and there."

McCrellish's face hardened. That was impossible. She couldn't know about the contract killer and her orders. Much less how she paid for them.

Penny Voorman's sweet smile returned. "Correct me if I'm wrong, of course."

Janice got up from her chair and motioned to the door. "You are wrong, Miss Voorman. And I'm not going to listen to your accusations any longer. I think you'd better leave now."

"Right." The journalist pushed her unused notebook into her bag and made to leave. "Thank you for your time. It's been very useful," she said coldly.

Janice knew it was probably too desperate, but the chilly smile that had never left Voorman's face disturbed her. "If we see anything in your paper, it will be the end of your career. I can promise you that."

The blond woman stopped at the door without turning back around. "Or yours."


	3. Chapter 3

Janice McCrellish reached for the prepaid phone she kept in a locked drawer and dialled the only contact.

"I don't do refunds."

"I have another job for you," McCrellish said.

"Already?"

"Something came up. There is this journalist, asking a lot of questions. I wouldn't mind if she disappears."

"You are aware there's no mass discount in my business?"

"I'll pay the usual rate. I'll even add a bonus. Can you get it done, yes or no?"

"Of course. Do you have a picture?"

"I'm getting it from our security as we speak. She's just leaving the building."

"Consider it done."

/\/\/\/\/\/\

Skye had not left the building yet. Instead she had sent an empty elevator back down and waited in the corridor ducked behind a vending machine. It took two minutes before everything happened as she had hoped.

"_Zaraaa!"_

Following the angry shout came Janice McCrellish stomping out of her office. Skye wouldn't have much time. She slipped into the vacated room she'd been in just minutes before. Immediately she went around the desk and bent down behind it. The office was of fairly modern, minimal design, so the a side board displaying several decorative plants, the desk and two comfortable chairs in front of it, made up the entire furniture. Not even picture on the wall that could have concealed a safe. The desk was the only place that could hide something. The agent pulled out several drawers until she found what she was looking for.

McCrellish had saved money at the wrong end for getting such a cheap safe. Skye turned the dial right first, because that was what the majority of people went for. She kept her ear close and waited for the first click. It didn't take long until she had worked out the combination. Skye glanced at the door, which she had left open. The coast still seemed clear. She reached in and took the single file out of the small compartment. The first couple of pages were correspondence with someone called Thews & Partners. Solicitors were what first came to mind, but as Skye continued to skim the contents it turned out to be a deal about an investment. Something about satellites, a possible expansion into navigation systems. Insane amounts of money were discussed. Government sanctioned? What did the government have to do with it? The paragraph failed to elaborate, instead Skye found two large photographs as she turned the page. They had been shredded once, but the individual strips had been put back together, neatly glued onto a spare piece of paper. The first one showed Janice McCrellish, looking exactly like she did today in a dark blazer and her hair in a strict bun. Next to her stood a young man. It looked like a press photo, some sort of commendation for a young employer from the boss. The man's smile was infectious even just looking at a photo. He seemed content.

The woman on the second photo, however, looked strangely serious, even though she seemed to be unaware that her picture was being taken. She had short black hair, Hispanic features and haunting eyes.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

Yusuf's phone that rang first. Secretly he welcomed the break, took off his glasses as he picked up and rubbed his eyes. "Yeah?"

"It's Skye. I need a favour."

"Sure."

"I just sent you a photo. I know who the woman is, but I need you to run a search on the man, he might be important."

"You do know we got stuff to do?" he asked with an ironic grin he knew Skye would pick up on.

"I do, but since I got you on speed dial instead of the tech department this was quicker."

"I feel honoured that I'm still your tech guy over your boyfriend. I got the picture. Running it now."

Now he heard Skye's smile. "He wouldn't answer his phone, so..."

Yusuf sighed and finally put his glasses back on. "Yeah, he switched it to silent to hunt our phantom Cinister. Won't even react to food since the Times Square Hack."

"Wow. Should I be worried?"

"Don't, we'll keep him fed."

"At least you got a cool code name now."

"I suppose that's one problem less. It got your guy: Tyler Anderson."

"Is that all?"

"He's listed under Missing Persons. Has been for two years. But please don't ask me to hack the FBI for you now, I got things to do."

"Interesting. One more thing," Skye said. "You said something this morning about Cinister trying to gain satellite access. Do you know which satellites?"

"Of course. They're used for navigation, GPS and stuff. Why?"

"I might be on to something here. Do they belong to a business called Thews & Partners by any chance?"

"Yeah, how did you know? ...are you still there?"

There was no answer. Yusuf stared at his phone. The connection had been cut.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

Orca tended to focus on people's flaws. She then filed them away for later reference. They always came in useful. The woman in the blue coat was easy to read. Posh clothes hiding a boring job, colourless hair and no curves to speak of. Busy talking on the phone. Seemed simple enough. The only problem was the way she walked. Long strides despite her small stature, and good shoes, no heels. Something about that gave off an air of assertiveness, a certain determination that felt like trouble. But then she decided this second-rate journalist just felt so self-important that it radiated off her.

Orca had seen the woman before. This morning, at the museum. Now she had found her again just a few blocks away from the Thorpwind Funds building, and of course, _of course _she matched the picture McCrellish had just sent her. So probably it was better for everyone involved to get her out of the way.


	4. Chapter 4

Skye smelled perfume, a strong forest-scent, not unpleasant but intense. From one second to the next it was incredibly close. Then someone grabbed her jacket, bunching up the fabric between her shoulder blades and dragged her backwards behind a recycling container. The agent's phone fell to the ground. Water splashed onto her shoes. A second arm went over her throat, enforcing the direction. The agent reacted immediately, undid two buttons with her right hand and smashed her left elbow backwards into her attacker's chest. It wasn't a strong blow, but then it was only intended as a momentary distraction to loosen the grip on her throat. It worked like a charm, and Skye wound herself out of her sleeves.

Orca's eyes narrowed when she realised all she was holding now was Skye's coat while its owner faced her with a slight smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you," she said and paused to tie her blond hair back with unnerving calm.

Orca hurled the blue garment behind her. She had been too impatient to wait until the journalist went to a secluded place where no one would mind the odd gunshot. That could take hours, or, if she was unlucky, wouldn't happen at all. Adding to that she increased the risk of being seen the longer she followed her. Hence Orca's direct approach was followed by her standard Plan B.

Chloroform does not work the way it is often portrayed in movies, asserting once someone gets a cloth pressed to their face they're out cold within seconds. In fact it can take several minutes of inhaling the substance until it overwhelms all senses. Orca liked it nevertheless. In her experience she was usually strong enough to hold her targets until the anaesthetic kicked in. Then it was just a matter of transporting them to a place of her choice. If that happened fast enough, they wouldn't even feel the pain of a bullet entering their skull. They'd just never wake up. It was almost poetic.

Orca's dark brown eyes narrowed as she ran towards her target. Skye braced herself for a hit, and deflected it expertly, but then Orca caught her wrist and turned her around with surprising strength. She continued to move backwards, dragged the agent behind the container, and effortlessly held the struggling woman.

Despite the strength of the grip, it felt soft on Skye's throat. Inhumanly soft, due to an expensive pair of suede gloves. Either Orca was about to strangle her or trying to break her neck, and neither option seemed desirable. Then the wet cloth went over her mouth, drowning out her attacker's woodsy perfume. Skye knew she had about two minutes to escape the iron grip before the first effects of the chloroform would weaken her.

She brought her feet up to the metal wall of the container and kicked off. This, finally, had an effect on Orca. Both women flew backwards. Orca hit the wall. Skye's fall however was cushioned by the contract killer's body. Skye's hand made contact with something her fingers instinctively recognised. A leather holster.

It barely took a second. Still taking advantage of their fall, Skye got hold of the gun and pushed herself up. The other woman was still on the ground, now under the aim of her own weapon.

Skye loaded a bullet into the chamber and aimed right between her eyes.

Both women started at the sound of a police siren, maybe two blocks away. Skye glanced up for a second. They were shielded from the street but in plain view of several windows, it was entirely possible that someone had called the cops on them.

They looked at each other, fully aware that they were thinking the same thing, weighing up their options.

The siren steadily came closer.

Orca scrambled to her feet and ran.

Skye tucked the gun into her belt, picked up her coat and phone and took off into the opposite direction. A block away she hailed a cab and asked for the city centre.

When the cab stopped at a traffic light, she saw her again. Orca was hidden on the motortruck that pulled up next to her, holding on between driver's cab and trailer. Stoically, she raised two fingers to her forehead and saluted Skye in a minimal gesture. There was fire in her eyes.

Then the truck went straight ahead while the taxi rounded a corner.

The thought of letting her go pained Skye, but what was the worst that could happen? Orca would hardly deposit the cash in a savings account. Most likely she would stash it somewhere. In a place that could be monitored. She would return to it eventually.

Skye's heart was still beating rapidly. She knew this wasn't the last they had seen of each other.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

"I thought we wanted to focus on catching our guy." Luther raised an eyebrow at Yusuf's screen. "What have you got there?"

"Special delivery for Skye. She asked me to run a search, it's just background work. Don't worry."

Luther suddenly sounded way too serious compared to their usual techie banter that had become their way of communication the longer they were holed up together. "Show me that again."

Yusuf looked at him uneasily, but reopened the tab.

"And why does the kid send you pictures of La Gomera?"

"What?" Yusuf said smartly.

"That guy." Luther pointed. "That's him."

By now Benji had finally torn his gaze free from the screen. "You," he said slowly, aware of the implications his sentence would bring with it, "know what La Gomera looks like?"

Luther refused to lose his cool. "I found him once."

"You _what?" _Benji exclaimed, and suddenly everything was chaos.

"You found a freaking Canary and never said a word?!" Yusuf yelled.

"Are you serious?"

"This is big! Shit, Luther, this is bigger than fricking Langley and you just shut up about it!"

"I had my reasons to let him go, I can't just put that into a report," Luther attempted to be reasonable, aware of what he had kicked off.

"Screw the mission report, what about us?" Yusuf complained. "That's not just a story you keep to yourself!"

"Boys." Zhen Lei came out of the adjacent bedroom, hair tousled, looking sleepy. "It's bad enough to share a bathroom with all of you, can you at least keep it down?"

"Luther found a Canary once and hasn't told us until now," Benji dead-panned.

Zhen looked first at him, then at Luther. "Are you for real?"

The latter just sighed. "What's with the picture?"

"I don't know?" Yusuf sounded offended at the very attempt to change the subject. "Something with Skye's mission. She just asked me to run a search on him. He's listed as missing."

"That's it?" Benji asked.

"She asked about Thews & Partners, wanted to know if those are the same satellites we mentioned this morning."

Benji looked confused. "Wait, but she's been after a contract killer all this time."

"So her mission is connected to our guy's satellites?" Zhen asked slowly.

Yusuf was sceptical. "What are the odds of that?"

"Why didn't you just ask her what's up?" Zhen asked pragmatically.

"We were interrupted. The connection broke up."

"IMF weren't the only ones after the Canaries," Zhen gave to consider. "There were rumours. Some of them just disappeared with unfinished work. That's not like them."

Benji frowned. "You think they were killed?"

"Let's just say it wouldn't shock me."

"But if Skye finds Cinister in the process, that would be amazing," Yusuf said, in a tone as if he had just surprised himself. "I mean, it would suck that we didn't get to him first, but other than that." He shrugged.

"But Cinister will protect his location at any cost," Luther realised.

Benji picked up his mobile. A concerned frown had coated his forehead.

"Who are you calling?" Luther asked.

"She's not answering," Benji answered and immediately dialled a different number. "Brandt, I need you to tell me where Skye is," he said into the phone without any form of greeting.

Brandt sighed at the other end. "You know I can't just do that."

Benji rubbed his face impatiently. He knew the regulations. Then he had an idea. It was just a feeling, and part of him really didn't want it to check out. "How about this. We found a possible location. Just outside Minneapolis. I'll send you the coordinates, and you give us the closest agent's contact details."

There was faint typing for a few seconds. "Okay, I can tell you where Skye is."


	5. Chapter 5

Skye's phone had warned her while she had still been on the call with Yusuf. The tracer she had put into Orca's money had come back into range. _Close _range. The soft ping signalling the assassin's approach had given Skye enough time to steel herself for an attack.

Then she had dropped the device, which normally wouldn't be a problem thanks to the reinforced case. A fine crack across one corner of the screen was the only evidence of her encounter with Orca. The real problem was the moisture. The phone had fallen into a puddle, and apparently several minutes worth of soaking had done for it. It refused to turn on. The agent was used to losing phones on the job, as a rule you never got attached to any piece of breakable technology. She still pocketed the useless device.

The chloroform had left an unpleasant aroma in her mouth, so Skye stopped to buy some soda. The fizz helped. Still savouring the new feeling on her tongue, she dialled a number on the public phone and eventually asked the secretary manning the phone today to put her through to Special Agent Latimer.

"Agent Holt," her contact at the Bureau said pleasantly surprised after she introduced herself. "It's been a while."

"I hope you can forgive me. I need some information about a missing persons case."

"Of course," he said immediately. Skye had helped the Bureau with a protection job years ago. Ever since Latimer had been the liaison for that mission, he had remained one of the few Special Agents with clearance to know of the IMF's existence. "Do you have a name?"

"Tyler Anderson. Went missing two years ago. Possibly around Minneapolis."

"Give me a second."

Skye waited patiently, using the time to scan her surroundings. No sign of Orca. For now she deemed the phone booth safe, but she had to keep moving. The contract killer would not make the same mistake twice. And without her phone Skye had lost the tracking device and with it any advance warning. The agent caught herself scanning windows of the surrounding buildings for the glint of a rifle.

At least she had a weapon now. She briefly glanced at her hip where it still sat, tucked into her belt. The hilt was made of black polished wood, giving it an old-timey feel, almost like in a western. The barrel was studded with green stones. Skye couldn't tell if they were real emeralds, but they certainly looked worth more than your run-of-the-mill rhinestones.

"Are you still there?"

She pulled her coat back over the weapon. "Did you find something?"

"He used to work as an accountant for Thorpwind Funds in Minneapolis, like you said. They're a fancy sort of investment firm for people with too much money. He was reported missing in November 2012 after he didn't show up for work one day. But apparently the investigation was put on ice when there were no leads. I mean no leads at all. He just vanished into thin air."

/\/\/\/\/\/\

A window popped up on Cinister's favourite computer. There was no sound accompanying the image, but the hacker noticed immediately and clicked on it. Someone had accessed a file about Tyler Anderson. Cinister effortlessly traced the path back to Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. Specifically, the J. Edgar Hoover Building. The hacker imagined a boring office with a boring desk holding the outdated computer and a landline. Cinister loved landlines. This one was currently active. The call went across the country to a phone booth in... no, that couldn't be. They couldn't have found the location of this hide-out yet – or could they? They were good, that was no secret. It had taken Cinister months to access their system while simultaneously keeping the home base safe. Pulling off the Times Square Hack together at the same time had been no joke.

The point wasn't to destroy anything. The point was to show that things _could _be destroyed any second. It was about power, about spreading unease.

_Focus now. They're here and asking about Tyler. Think._

The call connecting the FBI to a phone booth just a few miles away was still active. Rolling the cheap swivel chair further down the desk, Cinister switched to a different computer and accessed the public security cameras. It took some time to maneuver one in position. The picture was black and white, and the zoom an insult to any phone camera these days, but it was definitely a woman. Light hair, dark coat. She looked around before focusing back on the conversation.

Cinister had an idea. It was risky, but it had to happen someday. Now was as good a time as ever.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

Skye felt uneasy. "Was there reason to believe he was murdered?"

"The file says the possibility of a crime could not be ruled out, but no body was ever found."

"Mh. Does it say anything about his boss at Thorpwind? Janice McCrellish?"

"Um..." Another pause. "She was questioned, whether he had turned up for work, what kind of employee he was, that kind of thing. Pretty routine. Nothing came off it, as far as I can tell."

"Okay, thanks."

"What do I get in return?"

Skye couldn't suppress a smile. "How about an anonymous tip about a serious case of embezzlement?"

"I'm listening?"

"You're almost at the correct file already. McCrellish, the CEO of Thorpwind. She should have the odd client who'd be interested in how they treat their millions."

Latimer took a second to answer. "I'll have a look at that. If there's -"

Something had caught Skye's eye. "I gotta go."


	6. Chapter 6

"Since when did you have a location?" Yusuf asked, one step away from being angry.

"About half an hour," Benji admitted. "My programme pinned him down."

"And you were planning on telling us when, exactly?"

"I have three possible hits," he rushed to explain. "I wanted to close in further."

Luther frowned. "Then how did you know Minneapolis was the one?"

Benji shrugged. "Gut feeling."

Zhen got off the phone. "I convinced Declan to fly us out. We have to leave."

"You don't have to come with me," Benji began. "It could be nothing. Just another false lead."

"You don't turn down back-up. Don't forget this." Zhen handed him a weapon and an extra magazine.

He nodded a thanks at her. "Let's go."

"And what about us?" Yusuf complained.

"You'll be fine, just wake up Crover," Benji said, throwing on his jacket.

"Wow," Yusuf said unimpressed when the door had fallen shut behind them. "He's really into this field agent thing, isn't he?"

"You have no idea," Luther said chuckling, and went to wake up Crover.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

There was commotion at the internet café like never before when all screens went black at the same time, only to display the same message as every single surface in Times Square this morning. _The future is Cinister._

Skye slipped in without anyone noticing. There had been a TV in the window, showing the news as people walked by. Skye had been looking right at it when it changed to black.

**Looking for me? **

It had seemed to good to be true, but she'd had to check it out. Carefully she walked past a few computers before choosing one near the back. Most of the people in here had chosen to pester the owner with complaints about the screens not working. Others were already filming everything on their phones in the hopes of contributing to the viral videos from New York earlier today.

Skye sat down. She briefly considered giving the techies another call, but then followed her instinct instead.

She pulled the keyboard closer and typed,

You wanted to talk to me?

The letters appeared in front of her, but when Skye leaned to the side to make sure, every other computer stuck to the original message.

you were in the phone booth just now

Once more, Skye hesitated. Then she replied,

Yes. What do you want?

who are you

The reply refused to make use of punctuation. Skye felt she had to act fast. What would Benji do?

I know about 40

The agent bit her lip when nothing happened, sure she had given the wrong answer.

Then an address appeared on screen for a few seconds before it went black completely.

top floor come alone

/\/\/\/\/\/\

"I don't know if I'm convinced by this," Declan commented from the cockpit after Benji had briefed Zhen about everything. "I mean, what do we know?"

The Brit thought it was obvious. "We know that Skye is looking for a contract killer that managed to evade not just us, but every single agency for almost a decade. We also know she's looking in the same place that Cinister is currently operating from – if he hasn't bolted yet. We know that Cinister hacked a company that has something to do with Orca, and that Cinister is trying to get access to that same company's satellites, which are part of a new deal trying to keep the whole business afloat," Benji summed it up again.

"Sounds to me like your sinister guy wants to damage them," Declan said. "But why?"

"Because he can," Benji said. "Like the Canaries."

"I don't get how they fit into all this yet," Zhen said. "Except that one of them apparently used to work for Thorpwind."

"So, wait," Declan interrupted her thoughts, "you think this satellite company hired a contract killer to get rid of your hacker?"

"It's at least a possibility," Zhen said.

"No, it's not," the Irishman said with surprising certainty. "Because if _you_ guys haven't found him yet, how is some random killer gonna find him?"

Benji and Zhen looked at each other.

"Seems a bit thin to me. Might all be a big coincidence in the end." Declan shrugged. "Now everyone be quiet, I need to land for a minute."

Benji buckled his seat belt for the descend. He knew they were still missing a piece of the puzzle. But there had to be a connection. Someone just knew more than they did.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

Skye took out Orca's gun before she carefully ascended the stairs. She had to admit, the grip felt perfect. She was tempted to test it, just to see how it would feel to fire a shot. The agent briefly shook her head when she became aware of her own thoughts. Like its owner, the gun seemed to have a strangely mesmerising effect. You wanted to get to know them, even though you knew perfectly well you'd regret it.

The public housing high-rise she'd been led to was on the edge of the city. It was in bad shape. The lift was broken. There were disconcerting cracks in almost every wall. The top floor was number twenty. So Skye went to the staircase. She heard a TV murmuring softly from one flat, and the faint clattering of pots from another, but other than that it was completely still. The agent assumed most of them to be empty.

When she reached floor fifteen, the next set of stairs was taped off with yellow-and-black tape. A sign announced the last five floors were off limits due to construction work in order to improve... the rest was too faded to be legible. Something about no trespassing and parents being responsible for minors. Skye ducked under the tape and continued. Everything had a melancholic air of neglect. A few front doors were ajar or missing entirely, and when she paused to peak into the units, most of them were empty to the point that there wasn't even colour on the walls, just bare concrete.

On the top floor only one flat had a door. It stood ajar.


	7. Chapter 7

"Where do we start?" Benji asked.

"We start at Thorpwind," Zhen said.

They parked the car sufficiently far away from the building and walked the rest. Movement felt good. After a week of sitting in front of computers and the two and a half hour flight, both agents relished the exercise, simple as it was. Once they were in the building and on the right floor, Zhen took over.

"You wait here at the elevator. Call reception and distract her. I'll go in and see if I can find anything."

"Got it. If anyone comes in, I'll call you."

Zhen nodded and switched her phone to vibration. She waited at the glass door, saw the receptionist answer the phone and shortly after check something in the file cabinet behind her. Agent Lei quickly went inside and crossed the lobby, in search of a sign that said CEO.

She had just found it when phone vibrated with a text from Benji. She ducked into a niche behind a large copy machine just next to McCrellish's office.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

A woman entered the lobby of Thorpwind Funds with a large bouquet of flowers.

"Delivery for Janice McCrellish," she announced to Zara, the receptionist, without much of a greeting.

"Oh," she replied smartly, still shaken from earlier today when McCrellish had shouted at her because she let the journalist into her office. But Miss Voorman had sounded so confident about the appointment. "Thank you, I will let her know."

"Personal delivery only," she said curtly.

Zara tensed. There was something about her, her eyes, that made her uneasy. Anxious not to make another mistake, she showed her the way to her boss's office.

"What are you doing here?!" McCrellish hissed angrily on seeing who had entered.

Orca threw the flowers to the floor listlessly. "I need more information on the next target. The woman."

"Are you saying she got away?"

"I had her, but there were too many witnesses. I needed to let her go. Temporarily."

McCrellish sighed annoyed. "What do you need?"

"Whatever you got." Orca crossed her arms.

The CEO consulted her notes. "Her name is Penny Voorman, she's a journalist. Sounded British. She said she's from the Washington Post, so chances are she's staying in a hotel somewhere in town."

"I also need an advance."

"What happened to the money from the morning?" Now McCrellish sounded angry.

"That was the pay-up for last time. This is a new job. And I'll need a new gun."

"What happened to your old one?"

"That's none of your business." Orca held out a hand as if she expected McCrellish to reach into her neckline and retrieve a bundle of banknotes.

"I'll need some time to get that much cash again. Give me a minute."

/\/\/\/\/\/\

Zhen had heard every single word through the crack in the door. She carefully retraced her steps, muffled by the carpet. She quickly motioned for Benji to follow her until they were safely out of Thorpwind territory. Only in the elevator did Zhen bring him up to speed.

"Apparently McCrellish ordered a hit on Penny Voorman."

Benji frowned. The name rang a bell but he couldn't pinpoint it.

"That's Skye's old alias." They had often used it for missions, many years ago. Zhen hadn't known that Penny was still in use, but she remembered the name well. "Apparently she spoke to McCrellish earlier." Before Benji could reply, Zhen cut him off, "Don't worry, they don't seem to know where she is. Also Orca said she needs a new gun, so I suspect Skye handled herself pretty well on her own."

Benji smiled for a second. "So now...?"

"Now we wait in the lobby." On cue the elevator stopped and spat them out on the ground level.

"Until Orca shows up and then we just follow her?" Benji completed the plan, unsure if it could really be this simple for once.

"You're really getting the hang of this, Dunn," Zhen said ironically. Both of them had to grin.

It didn't take long for something to happen. Benji tapped Zhen's shoulder when he saw the elevator descend. Orca appeared, now without flowers, her hands shoved into the pockets of her leather jacket. But instead of leaving the building, she took a sharp turn and went to the staircase.

The agents exchanged a glance and followed at a safe distance.

The cellar was a labyrinth of storage rooms and the heating and ventilation system. It was also home to a lot of spiders. It could have been accessed by the elevator, but that required a special key. They had been in luck that they hadn't missed Orca on her way down.

She went into a room at the far end of the main hallway, so far back that the neon fixtures had given up in that corner. Benji and Zhen appreciated that fact and proceeded to hide in the half-light.

Orca entered a room and slammed the door. With a bang, it bounced off the frame.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

The second Skye had crossed the threshold, someone threw the door shut behind her. She instantly turned around, ready to defend herself and fight her way back out, but when she saw the person there, she hesitated and stayed where she was. The next moment someone came at her from behind. Before she could control it, her training kicked in and had the better of her, causing her to throw a blind punch. Someone coughed when Skye turned to face this new threat. Again, on seeing the person, she stopped. Which gave them time to use the pepper spray. Even as it happened, Skye processed what was going on and told herself that she would be okay, it wasn't lethal, the pain and irritation would pass. It still burned excruciatingly when her eyes started to tear.

"You need to hold her arms. As tight as you can."

"As tight as I can."

Skye felt hands tighten like clamps around her wrists. She still couldn't see, the burning sensation overruled every attempt to open her eyes. She could have gotten out of the situation within a minute, she was aware of that. But her morals led her to take this approach instead. At least that's what she told herself when the cable binders tightened around her wrists.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

Once it was dried and connected to a computer, the phone proved to be a disappointment. There were no saved contacts, no e-mails, not even a single picture. Anything that looked remotely promising was encrypted and looked time-consuming. The only thing Cinister found were two entries in the call log. On tracking the numbers, one turned out to be in Washington. The other one was right here in Minneapolis.

In the building of Thorpwind Funds.

This couldn't be good.


	8. Chapter 8

Once she managed to open her eyes again, Skye assessed her situation. She was fixed to a small old radiator. It gave a bit when she pulled away. The bare grey concrete wall was crumbling at the top left tube. With a bit of patience and strength she could loosen it enough to free herself.

A sound interrupted Skye's plotting.

She looked up. The boy was standing at the door, ducking into the niche of the door frame. He was quite tall and obvious, but seemed to be convinced that he couldn't be seen. His hair was too long and hung into his eyes. The term boy was actually misleading. He was at least twenty, Skye estimated, but still had something about him that made him appear very young.

"Hi," Skye said eventually.

The boy flinched away, shy but curious. He peered around the corner and then came closer.

"Hello," he whispered.

Skye noticed her scrutinising him made him uneasy. He fidgeted around. "Are you okay?"

He looked at the floor. "I'm not supposed to talk to you..." he murmured into his shirt.

"Why not?" The agent took care to keep her voice friendly and her demeanour as non-threatening as possible.

He murmured something she couldn't understand.

Skye paused a couple of seconds. "What's your name?"

"You're a stranger."

"I could tell you my name first," she suggested. "I'm Skye."

He smiled. "That's not a real name."

"I suppose not," she chuckled. "So what's yours?"

"Zero."

"That's not a real name either, is it?"

He smiled shyly. "Do you like birds?"

"Uh," Skye answered, uncertain what he wanted to hear. "Sure."

"What's your favourite bird?"

"There's so many to choose from..." Skye was stalling because she didn't have a good answer. Zero waited patiently. "I like owls, I suppose. Snowy owls are pretty."

His smile grew into a huge childlike grin of pure happiness when he nodded in agreement. "Snowy owls nest on the ground." He paused. "I have a lot of pictures. Of eagles and robins and hawks and sea gulls and – do you want to see them?"

"I'd love to," Skye said. A small part of her felt bad for what she was about to do, because he seemed so happy about her interest. "But it's a bit dark in here. Maybe if you let me out?"

The boy nodded exaggeratedly, reached into his pocket and unearthed a pair of scissors.

"Zero?" someone called from another room. "Where are you?"

He made a panicked noise and dropped the scissors, then took off at top speed.

"No, wait," Skye hissed after him, but he was gone. She looked at the floor where the silvery surface of the blades reflected the light. Then she stretched.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

The lair was like she had left it. It was temporary, and accordingly ugly. There was a folding mattress in the corner with the least spiderwebs. Her clothes were in a bag on top of the old freezer, to protect the fine fabrics from dust and dampness. Cheap, prepaid phones lay in an orderly row along a table next to a battered radio. She turned it on and simultaneously reached for the large black case that held her spare gun. It was bigger and technically better, but she preferred the one with the emeralds, simply because of its style. Ultimately, as long as it could shoot, a gun was a gun. She didn't need the fanciest model on the market.

McCrellish had no idea that Orca had accommodated herself in the cellar of her own company, but with all the work Orca had to do for her it had seemed a better idea than staying in a hotel for too long. She'd had to break the lock, which had the unfortunate consequence that the door wouldn't close all the way now. But judging by the state of the room, she wouldn't be disturbed.

She had just pocketed a new phone when the police radio caught her attention. She turned up the volume.

"_...dispatch, this is 338, could you give us the description of the suspected assault in the financial district again?"_

"_Two women involved, the first one Caucasian, blond, about 5'3'', no further information about appearance, presumed armed and dangerous, the second one Mexican, about 5'7'', short dark hair, black leather jacket, presumed..."_

"I'm not fucking Mexican!" she shouted through the room. She rarely lost her temper like this, but this day, which had started out so promisingly at the museum, had taken a turn for frustration. Some random dispatch insulting her Guatemalan heritage was the last thing she needed to hear right now. And now Voorman was the one called armed and dangerous. What a joke. _She_ was the dangerous one. She didn't just kill people, she let them disappear. All her employers ever got to see was a photo of the dead body, and that would be the end of their troubles.

"_...this is 379, possibly spotted the first one, but can't confirm it. We didn't manage to pursue."_

"_379, what's your position?"_

Orca listened closely, then tucked her new gun into the shoulder holster and left.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Shouldn't we follow her?" Benji hissed under his breath as they watched Orca leave.

"We know where she's headed,"Zhen said, who had committed the fragments of police radio chatter to memory. "This will only take a second."

Zhen went into the room Orca had just vacated and, after a moment's inspection, walked confidently over to the freezer.

Benji paused at the door, keeping watch in case they were about to get company. "What do you expect to find, a dead body?"

"Why not. Would be a start," Zhen said, and Benji tensed involuntarily when she opened it.

"That's interesting..." she said and reached in.

"What... what is it?" Benji asked, edging forward.

Zhen pulled her sleeves down over her hands so that she didn't have to touch the ice-cold surface of the object she unearthed. It was a book, a small photo album. Benji, who had drawn level with her now, looked at the photos as she carefully turned the freezing pages. He felt a bit queasy at the sight of all the blood.

"Well, look at that. Not just one dead body, but all of them."

"You think she killed all these people?" Benji asked.

"How else would you explain a photo album of crime scenes? These are her trophies. Also they've all been shot as far as I can tell." Zhen kept flicking through the pages. "Consistency in method. Seems pretty damning to me."

"Wait," Benji interrupted her and turned a page back. "You recognise him?"

Zhen looked closer.

"That's Eugene Kittridge," Benji said gravely.

"The former director of IMF?"

"That's the one."

Zhen looked closer. Benji was right. Kittridge had gone missing years ago, and presumed dead for a few more. This was big.


	9. Chapter 9

Only when Orca arrived in the area did she remember disposing of a body here two years ago. She had killed him in his flat when the neighbouring building was still under construction. He should still be trapped in the concrete foundation with a single bullet in his chest. Orca never wasted ammunition.

Said building still wasn't finished. Probably one of those cases where funding ran out a third through the project. She was fine with that.

On the minus side, the area was positively deserted. No sign of Voorman, or the cops for that matter. She cursed in Spanish. Then she had an idea. There weren't too many immediate places to hide. If she was trying to run from a patrol, the nearest house was as best as any. And she had to start somewhere.

With long strides she walked towards the building where she had murdered Tyler Anderson two years ago.

She didn't notice that two people followed her.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

There were computers everywhere. An L-shaped desk ran along two walls, holding a seemingly random assortment of anything from bulky 90s-models to the latest ultra-thin laptops. The older models' fans were whirring more or less quietly.

It was dark. The windows were blocked by what Skye at first took to be black-out curtains, but really they were just pieces of dark fabric, attached to the wall with an exhaustive amount of gaffa tape. She could hear the wind howling outside.

A large mattress lay in a corner, lacking sheets or pillows. Just several fleece blankets were bunched up on the floor next to it.

"How did you get out?!"

Skye turned without any rush. The girl was dressed completely in black. She looked young, younger than Zero even. Her hair was brownish with tinges of grey and purple, the result of cheap washed-out dyes. It was short. A patch above her left ear was cropped to stubbles, the rest was swooped to the other side where it feathered out in layers over her right ear. An infinity sign was tattooed on the side of her neck, and a rank of ivy was inked all around her left arm. She was extremely pale and thin. It looked unhealthy. Skye wanted to sit her down and buy her food. Most importantly however, the girl was currently aiming the emerald-studded gun at her, shaky, with one hand, trying and failing to disguise her obvious anxiety by sounding tough.

Despite everything, Skye didn't want to throw Zero under the bus. "The radiator had a sharp edge. Didn't take me long."

"I want you to..." The girl's voice trailed off for a second. "You need to get back in there."

Skye took her time to reply. This girl was terrified. She doubted she had ever held a gun in her life, much less fired one. She was just a kid. Holt looked at her. The family resemblance to Zero was impossible to miss. "The safety," the agent said calmly.

"Wh-what?"

"The safety catch is still on. It's the small switch right by your thumb. You have to flick it, or else the mechanism will block."

The girl swallowed and eyed the gun in her hands. She saw it now.

"That's it," Skye said. "Can you feel how the trigger will give way now?"

She did feel it. Her right forefinger nudged it just a bit and it gave way, so she stopped. This fucking gun.

"Secure with your left hand. Like so-"

"Hands up!" she shouted at the woman. She was trying to get into her head. But she wouldn't let her.

Skye made an _okay_-face and slowly put her hands up again. "There will be a recoil, so make sure you have a secure stand. I like to go for a head shot because it's quick, but you're an inexperienced shooter, so I would advise the centre of mass. It's a safer target. Around here." Despite the previous warning she lowered her right hand and motioned at her chest area.

The girl swallowed. She couldn't do it. Not with this gun. "Don't talk to me about fucking head shots, you..."

"You have a bird on you."

She looked behind her. "Zero, go back," she shouted. "Go back right now!"

The boy ignored her and went closer to Skye. The agent looked at him, intrigued. He stopped right in front of her, effectively blocking the line of fire. His eyes were wide.

"Yes," Skye said softly. "It's a hummingbird."

The boy reached out. "Hummingbirds are the smallest birds."

"Zero!" the girl shouted.

He stopped in mid-motion. "Can I?"

Skye nodded. She slowly lowered her hands.

The boy reached out and touched the fabric of her blouse where the hummingbird sat, on her left collarbone. The moment he made contact he flinched back, giggled and flushed red.

For some reason it was then that something clicked in Skye's brain. For Zero. Of course. All those computers should have been enough evidence. Her bluff had paid off. She looked back at the girl. "You're Cinister."

The gun no longer pointed at the agent. The girl stared at her.

"I can help you and your brother. I know you're doing this for him," Skye said quickly. "I'm not here to hurt you. But there are people out there who will. Ever since the Times Square Hack people had to acknowledge you publicly. Now everyone is out to get you. They'll need to show the public someone to blame. I can get you out of here."

"How do you know all this?"

"I have to say, Times Square was pretty impressive."

"You think?"

Skye nodded. "I don't understand too much about that kind of thing, but I have some friends who are dying to know how you did it."

Her eyes narrowed. "Friends?"

She nodded and smiled. "You were in their computer just this morning. I was there."

Cinister's fingers twitched around the handle of the gun. "You... work with them?"

The agent extended a hand. "My name is Skye Holt. I work for a covert agency. An agency which could really use someone with your talents."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" she suddenly sounded incredibly angry. "You want me to come work for the, the fucking Feds or whatever, like I'm part of your stupid system-" Sick of holding on to it, she threw the gun into a corner.

The next second an incredibly loud shot fired. Cinister screamed. Her heart was beating out of her chest.

The bullet fired into the air, bore into the ceiling and caused a big chunk of it to come loose. Skye reacted without thinking about it, pushed herself forward and threw Zero onto the floor, shielding him with her body. She felt a dull impact on her back and gritted her teeth. The boy, while initially shell-shocked by what happened, now started thrashing. It took some force, but Skye managed to hold him in place until she was sure no more of the ceiling would come down. Then she let him get up, making sure he stood well away from the point of impact.

"Are you okay?" she asked the girl.

Cinister nodded, obviously frightened, while Zero quietly squirmed on the spot, uncomfortable with having been touched.

"The gun fired upon impact. I didn't mean to hurt you, Zero," Skye continued as she retrieved the weapon. She checked the magazine and flicked the safety back on, then offered it to the girl. "Do you want it back?"

Her voice was thin and shaky. "Why would you say that?"

Skye shrugged. "If it makes you feel safe."

"I don't want that thing anywhere near me. I shouldn't have thrown it. Shit, Zero, I'm sorry, if anything happened to you-" She broke off and hugged him. He didn't reciprocate the gesture, just stood perfectly still. "Sorry," she murmured once more, very quietly, before she let him go. He seemed remarkably calm again.

Skye tucked the weapon into her belt. Then she couldn't help herself. Softly she asked, "How old are you?"

"I'm twenty-one," Cinister replied at once.

The agent smiled involuntarily. "Same as me then."

The only reply she got was a glare.

Skye guessed sixteen, seventeen tops. "Why did you lure me here?"

Cinister huffed. "You were asking about my brother."

The agent frowned and looked at Zero.

"Not him," said Cinister. "I had another brother."

Skye needed a second. "Tyler Anderson... is your brother?"

"Was."

"Your brother was a Canary."

"Canaries don't sing in the dark," Zero whispered very loudly.

Skye looked at him, but Cinister just sighed. "He knows a lot about birds. Never mind him."

"Cinny, can we have cake?" Zero asked with puppy-eyes.

"We don't have cake. But there are cookies left." She swallowed and seemed uncertain before she decided to ask, "Do you want something too?"

"Thank you. I'm afraid we don't have much time," Skye said. "I have reason to believe someone was after me when you caught me. And it's possible that she's on her way here now."

She clearly was not convinced. "Who?"

"She's an assassin. I don't know her real name, but she's codenamed Orca."

"And this is her gun."

The agent was mildly surprised. "Yes. How do you know?"

"She's the one who killed my brother."

/\/\/\/\/\/\

The bloodstain wasn't there anymore, but Orca remembered. She had detoured into the flat of that long past kill. In fact, most of the apartment had been looted. It was completely abandoned. She bent down to one knee and touched the ground with suede-gloved fingers, hoping to feel something at her past accomplishment. It had been so easy. McCrellish had given her his address, she had dressed up a little and knocked on his door. She couldn't even remember the story she had made up, but he had invited her in.

He had turned his back on her and Orca had taken her gun out. The emeralds had caught the light and several green reflections had danced across the wall for a second.

Then she had called his name. She'd wanted him to face her.

The assassin stood up. She felt energized.

She was already on her way back down when she heard a gunshot. Several floors up, by the sound of it. But it was more than that. She knew that sound.

It was her gun.


	10. Chapter 10

"I can't leave here. I need to stay at the computers or everything will have been for nothing."

"You mean the satellite access?"

"You know everything, don't you? Also I can take care of myself."

"With pepper spray?" Skye leaned against the desk. She tried to figure her out, her fluctuations between honest fear and snappy rage. The classic defence mechanisms.

"It worked on you," the girl shot back.

"I only stopped because I saw how young you were," Skye said, letting her tone convey the truth of the statement. "I'm fairly sure Orca won't have that kind of moral compass."

A heavy silence followed.

"You say you work for the government," Cinister began again.

Skye nodded. "You could say that."

"That doesn't make _any _sense."

"Why not?"

"Because the _government_ is the one hiding your so-called Orca. That's why no one can find her. I've got proof, I've compiled a whole file. I just haven't decided how to leak it yet."

Skye straightened. "You've just found the woman for the job."

Cinister crossed her arms, clearly hesitant.

"Cinny." Zero came back, crumbs all over his shirt. "Can I show Skye my pictures, please?"

The girl sighed. "Not now."

"Please?"

"No!"

Zero looked sad, but didn't say any more.

"I like Cinny better than Cinister," Skye broke the silence.

"It's not my real name."

Skye smiled. "Not shit."

Involuntarily, the girl smiled back. A cursing adult. What a sight to see.

"Are you two all on your own?" Skye asked softly.

"Yes."

Skye kept quiet and waited for her to elaborate.

"Tyler used to take care of us. My mum killed herself when I was little and I never met my dad, so we were all split up into different foster homes." Zero closed his eyes and put his hands over his ears in a big gesture, shutting her words out. His sister acknowledged it with a glance.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Skye said compassionately.

"Yeah, it sucked. But Tyler found us and got us back out once he was of age, and then it was just us siblings. He taught me everything I know." Cinister looked at the computers.

Skye sensed there was more, but this would take time. She probably hadn't talked about this in a long time, if ever. Especially not to an adult. "What about money?"

"I rigged a couple of online games and diverted some of that money to one of my accounts. I don't take a lot, though. Tyler always said... he always did the right thing. He said that's important." She turned to her brother and gently made him lower his arms. "It's okay, Zero, you can listen again." Cinny read Skye's expression. "It's some form of autism. We don't have insurance, so we never went to a doctor, but from everything I've read it's hard to properly diagnose anyway. He's fine. He just has a few ticks."

"I know some pretty good doctors who could help you."

"You keep talking about help," she spat. "No one's ever helped us."

Skye's heart tightened. "First time for everything."

Cinny swallowed, nervously combed through her hair. She looked at the missing chunk of cheaply processed concrete ceiling. This woman, a complete stranger, would have taken a bullet for her brother just a minute ago. She wanted to trust her. Only in her experience, that instinct had always betrayed her. "Why are you after my brother?"

"Again, I'm not after him. I'm after his killer. Tyler worked for Thorpwind Funds, and I believe his boss, Janice McCrellish, has something to do with his death."

"You're right. She got him out of the way after he found out about her stealing money."

Skye's eyebrows climbed up. "Of course. He was in the system. Because he could."

"He was rightfully in the system, he was a damn accountant and McCrellish is a fucking idiot." Cinister registered that Holt didn't even flinch at her swearing. Instead she looked as if she was about to agree with her. She continued in a more measured tone. "Anyway. He was La Gomera after all. So he followed it up and confronted her. That was his mistake."

"Why did he do that?"

"For money. He had two younger siblings to take care of, one of which is... has special needs." She felt tears gathering in her throat. It had been a while since she had allowed herself to cry, this was not the time to take it up again. She looked at the floor and was grateful when Holt took over to finish the story.

"So he tried to blackmail her. I see. And she ordered a hit on him out of fear that he would go public and destroy her reputation." She sounded kind, and honest. "I'm very sorry."

Cinny found her voice again. "McCrellish has ties to the government. Her uncle is Senator Olsen Thews. He helped her build the whole company, mainly so that he can feed his money through it and get rich. I found emails from him, giving her a way to contact Alma Hernández – that's Orca for you."

"You can prove this?"

"I'm not lying," she said, instantly offended.

"I didn't mean to suggest you were. This is just – I've been trying to find information about her for so long, I didn't even have a name." Skye tried not to let her excitement show too much. "Thews – as in Thews & Partners, I take it?"

"That's the one."

"I see. So you tried to sabotage both him and McCrellish, do as much damage as possible."

For some reason she made it sound like an achievement, instead of an accusation. The voice in Cinny's head, reminding her not to let this woman get to her, was still there, but it grew quieter. "They deserve it. They destroyed everything."

"I know about McCrellish's embezzlement. I tipped off the FBI. She's already going down, but if you give me those emails we can make sure she'll be locked up for a long time."

"You can do that?"

"Yes." Skye smiled at her. "I might be on government business, technically, but we're an international agency. We operate globally, just based in Washington. One shady senator does not equal the entire system. That being said, we're a bit more under the radar anyway. Might be just your style." An unexpected sound made the agent jump. She scanned the room and found what she was looking for. "Did you fix my phone?"

"Well, at first it looked pretty dead, but I managed to dry it and hooked it up. I wanted to take a look, but when I saw the encryptions I knew this would take time, so -"

"We need to leave, right now." Skye had crossed the room to her phone and unlocked something. Her tone left no room for debate. "I put a tracer on Orca. She's close."

Cinister hesitated. She couldn't know if this woman was telling the truth. But her hideout had been found anyway. She was going to have to leave either way. Which was a shame, because no one would have suspected her just a few floors up from her old flat. Maybe it was best to pack up and go, then ditch Holt the first opportunity she got. "One second."

"There's no time," Skye urged. She'd gone over to the window and moved the black fabric to the side, but couldn't see anyone approaching. That meant she had to be inside already.

"This won't take long." Cinister had typed a command on her computer, then gathered a handful of flash drives, her smallest laptop, three phones, and two hard drives into a shoulder bag before she pressed enter. All screens on the long desk suddenly went bright blue, running rapid lines of code. Soon all data on them would be wiped out. "Okay."

But Skye shook her head, staring at her phone. "She's too close, we might run straight into her. You need to hide."

/\/\/\/\/\/\

There were a lot of flats to check, but Alma Hernández was not about to make a mistake now that she was so close. She was up on the fourteenth when she though she'd heard steps behind her. She paused, even glanced over the railing to see if someone was following her.

Nothing. Maybe an actual resident.

She continued her ascend, slowly and methodically.


	11. Chapter 11

"Hernández... Orca – has she killed lots of people?" Cinny spoke low so that only Skye could her her. She didn't want to bother Zero, and much less attract attention. They were huddled together in the empty closet.

Skye never took her eyes off the room. "Yes."

Cinny swallowed. But she needed to keep talking to block those memories out. How she had sat with Zero in the closet two years ago for what must have been hours, until long after she had heard Hernández leave. "And you... you want to catch her?"

"That's the idea."

"Are we going to die?" Cinny whispered. She was clutching the pepper spray, but it felt so useless.

Skye glanced at her for a split second. "No," she said firmly.

The girl swallowed.

"Cinny, listen to me. I've protected a lot of people. It's part of my job, and I'm good at it. I won't let anything happen to you. Just stay behind me."

Zero made a small whimpering noise. Cinny took his hand. "You need to be quiet. It's really important."

The boy looked at Skye.

The agent felt it. "Zero, you can trust me."

"Yes. You have a bird."

Then they all heard it. Someone had entered the flat.

Cinny felt tears rising.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

Skye left their hiding place ahead of time. She wanted all attention on her, lure the killer away from the siblings.

"I assume you're looking for this." She held up the gun and registered with a tinge of malicious pleasure that Orca flinched.

"It's fine, I got another one." It was the first time that Skye heard her voice. A throaty, very faint accent gave her native language away as Spanish. "But since you ask, I would like it back."

Skye eyed the SIG Sauer semi-automatic. "I'm sure we can work out a deal."

"You're not a journalist."

"No."

"That was you in San Antonio."

"Yes."

"I'm impressed. I didn't think you would be of consequence."

Skye raised one eyebrow. "I'll take it."

"I have one question," Hernández said thoughtfully. Her posture was so relaxed, it was insulting. "Why didn't you shoot me today when you had the chance?"

The agent said the first thing that came to her mind. "It didn't feel right."

"Bullshit."

Not entirely, Skye thought. "I have orders to bring you in."

"You want me to stand for my crimes."

Skye just nodded, unsure what she wanted to hear. By now the two women were circling each other in carefully measured movements like two tigers.

"See, I would be fine with that if it meant my employers would bite the same bullet. But it never works that way because they have power, and money. So I don't think I will either."

The green silk shirt fell in a flattering way around Orca's body when she loaded a cartridge and proceeded to raise the gun.

The shot tore through the silence.

The bullet went exactly where she wanted it – out of the window. Start off with a warning. Zhen reloaded. "Freeze," she said calmly.

Orca saw Skye stare behind her, ignored the command and turned. A man and a woman, both armed. It bothered her that she had underestimated this so-called journalist so much, she hadn't reckoned on back-up. But they were flawed, she could see it clear as day. Contrary to her, they would hesitate.

Before Orca could pull the trigger, she was thrown off her feet. The SIG flew across the room.

Now the agent had made a mistake, and despite being occupied with fending off well-placed kicks, she had to smile. The other two wouldn't shoot as long as she was entangled with Holt, and Hernández knew that ultimately she was stronger.

Someone was shouting something, but she ignored it. Holt was behind her, an arm across her throat. It was unpleasant, but Orca managed to stand up. Mobilising her strength she reached behind her, grabbed the other woman's arm and reached around her torso. Then she threw her as hard as she could.

Caught up in their fight they had moved, and Orca hadn't paid attention. She had assumed Holt would hit a wall and, best case scenario, break her neck. But they had turned further than anticipated and as she let go, the agent was hurled against a black piece of fabric.

The gaffa tape came loose upon the impact and vanished along with Skye.

There had been no window pane.


	12. Chapter 12

Rarely had Skye been so aware of the pull of gravity. The ground was about seventy metres below her. It was beginning to get dark. Absurdly, she had to think of the first time she'd been on a Ferris wheel as a child. It hadn't looked all that high from the ground, but once all the way up you quickly developed a new respect for heights.

"Skye?"

Her favourite voice in the world._ Focus._

"I'm okay," she called up. The wind made her own words sound far away. She looked back up but otherwise didn't move. She was holding on to the cheap blackout curtain. One metre further up, holding the other end, Orca was glaring at her.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

Up in the apartment, the contract killer turned her head. "Shoot me and she'll fall."

Benji gritted his teeth. Zhen was trying to catch his eye, but he didn't dare look at his fellow agent. He knew they were supposed to consider the option of shooting the contract killer regardless of the cost – and he didn't want to hear any of it. This wasn't what he had come here for.

"You will leave here," Orca continued. "Once I see you down there, you will call a taxi and drive away. Otherwise, my hand might slip."

Benji saw Zhen shift he position. He knew what she was doing, but he wasn't sure if he could let her go through with it.

Suddenly, a jolt almost made Hernández fall. She didn't let go of the curtain, but her grip loosened for a crucial moment.

Zhen immediately noticed the fabric wasn't taut any longer. It was too late anyway. She pulled the trigger.

Orca went down with an angry scream.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

Benji knew that Zhen had acted like any agent should have. He remained silent when they both shot forward and secured Hernández with their combined strength. She was cursing in a rapid flow of Spanish when they bent her left arm back, the one that had taken the bullet.

The second Orca was secured, Benji bolted to the window.

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. No one holding on to the ledge, no one on the ground down below either. He wanted to call out, but his voice had left him.

Then she suddenly appeared, looking out of the window one floor down. Her hair blew in the wind when she leaned out in order to look up.

"What are you doing here?" she called up with a smile.

Benji exhaled his relief. "I missed you, too," he managed to play it cool, although he was sure his expression betrayed him. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah. The window had no pane down here either, I managed to swing inside. I'll be right up."

Zhen had spotted the kid in the closet of the next room. Her scared eyes.

Agent Lei looked directly at her. "You can come out, it's safe now."

Tentatively she ventured out. She was extremely pale, unsure if her feet would carry her.

"Do you have cable binders?" Zhen asked, while still pressing Hernández to the ground.

The question worked wonders. "Do I have cable binders. Hell, yes. You want some duct tape, too?"

At the front door, Benji hugged Skye as soon as she reached the top step.

"I'm fine," she whispered against his neck, sensing his concern. "What about Orca?"

"Taken care of."

They went back inside the apartment. "It's so good to see you," Skye said on seeing Zhen. The two women clasped hands and pulled each other into a brief hug.

"It's good to see you standing," she replied.

Skye glanced at Hernández. "Did she hurt anyone?" She looked at the siblings. Zero had come out of hiding as well.

Cinny shook her head. She was shaking. She felt so small. Not just because of Orca, it had also been a while since there had been so many people around her and she didn't know how to behave. Zero stayed close behind her.

Benji finally found the time to take a look at the computers. Several screens had gone dark, but two were still running code.

"What is this place?" he asked.

"Right," Skye said. "Cinny, these are Benji Dunn and Zhen Lei, the ones who almost had you. Guys, meet Cinister. She's under my protection."

Benji opened his mouth, but closed it again without saying anything. He looked at the young woman shifting in front of him. With flushed cheeks he finally tucked his Glock away and smiled. "Pleasure," he said, extending a hand.

"My real name's Cordelia," she said, shyly shaking his hand. "And his name is Scott, but he only listens to Zero these days."

"How did you do it?" Benji had to ask. "How did you evade us getting into your system?"

She shifted. "I wrote a basic AI that constantly rebuilds my firewall. Even if you manage to get through, which you won't, you only have like a minute until you're out again and have to start over."

"You wrote an intelligent programme," Zhen repeated incredulously. "By yourself."

Cinister shrugged. "It's pretty handy."

Zhen raised her eyebrows. Then she extended a hand. "Welcome to the IMF."


	13. Chapter 13

Cordelia's bag was already packed. There wasn't much more to take after she had shut down her computers. Once it had been established that Benji's and Zhen's favourite birds were penguins and toucans respectively, Scott had come along without hesitation.

The girl swallowed as they all boarded the plane, telling herself to trust her feelings for once. Because this felt right.

There was something so easy about the Skye Holt. Maybe it was the way she talked, Cordelia had never heard a person speak with an English accent outside of TV shows. Maybe it was the bravery she had seen from her. The way she had faced Hernández without batting an eyelid. Cordelia had stayed close to her when the agent had called the security transport. Holt had let her stay to watch when the men closed the door and shook hands with the agent. As if she knew that Cordelia needed to see.

She had a good feeling about the others too.

Zhen Lei, wounding Orca even at the risk of endangering her friend, and then proceeding to bandage the clean shot through her shoulder with the same self-evidence.

And Benji Dunn, that same soothing accent she wasn't used to hearing and an endless flow of questions about how she went about remote access tools and building backdoors and polymorphic code. Whenever he stopped for air, Lei supplied the next question. Apparently they had spent weeks trying to track her down.

Cordelia wanted to answer them, too. She felt flattered by the way they seemed to respect her skills, disregarding her young age entirely when it came to discussions about hacking. It was just all a bit much. She had to think of Tyler a lot, and worried how Scott would take all of this.

"Everything okay?" Agent Holt asked her.

"I've never been on a plane," Cordelia admitted quietly.

"Enjoy it, then," Skye smiled at her.

"But how did you crack my virus?" Benji asked, who had missed the exchange.

"Which one?"

"The latest version."

"It took me a while, but I disassembled it. I just took the binary executable and turned it into machine code and reformatted. Then I could read it and see what it does. It's pretty good, I saved it on a floppy disc." She still sounded meek and uncertain, but a touch of pride shone through now.

Benji was about to ask another question when he was interrupted.

"_Skatter_," Skye said gently. "Maybe this can wait until we're home."

Cordelia threw her a grateful glance.

Benji took the hint. "Right. Of course."

/\/\/\/\/\/\

Zhen was on her computer, Cordelia had fallen asleep, and Scott was completely transfixed looking out of the window when Skye let herself fall onto the seat next to Benji. She had just spoken to their pilot. They were going to land soon.

"You can stop worrying now."

"I'm not worried, I'm relieved," Benji explained. "They're different things."

"You're tense."

He'd wanted to respond, but Skye pulled him in for a brief kiss. She still managed to surprise him with that. It made him realise how much he had missed her. She ruffled the hair at the nape of his neck for a second before it was over. Skye glanced over at the others. She didn't like being such an obvious couple while on a mission, but this close to home, when everyone else was busy, she decided to make an exception as he kissed her again.

Resisting Benji was the actual impossible mission.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Where do you think you're going?"

Skye tried hard to suppress the smile before turning back around to Benji. "Home," she said as casually as possible.

There had been so much to do. Finding a safe place to stay for Cordelia and Scott. A visit the infirmary including intense discussions with Dr. Lee. And a long conversation with the legal department to sort out the whole under-age-thing. Skye had stayed with them for most of it, in order to give them at least one familiar face through all of it. HQ had been a bit overwhelming for the siblings at first. By now Skye had lost track of the date.

Benji caught up to her. "Without me?"

"I was sure you'd want to stay with Cordelia to hear how she did it."

"I do," he admitted. "But Zhen took over for me and I don't want to overcrowd her. She's still a bit shaken, too many people at once, you know? We set the first official meeting for tomorrow afternoon, just our original team. The rest of the tech department will have to wait. And, truth be told, I could use a shower."

"A shower sounds wonderful."

Benji's stomach tingled with warmth when he sneaked an arm around Skye's waist and they continued their way through IMF HQ. "So. I found your hitman-"

"Hitwoman."

"That, and you found my hacker in return. Seems like we make a good team."

"And on top of that, IMF has gained a new addition to their tech department."

"Yeah..."

"Don't be jealous. What else are they supposed do after losing you to field work?" Skye nudged him gently. "I for one can't wait to see everyone's faces when they realise they've been dodged by a sixteen-year-old girl the entire time."

Benji smiled. "You like her."

"Yeah. I think she'll be all right here."

They had reached the parking garage.

"Straight home?"

"Should we pick up some food?"

"I saved us a batch of cinnamon rolls."

Benji smiled widely. "Straight home, then."

/\/\/\/\/\/\

Alma Hernández took in the scene in front of her with a smile. She hadn't allowed herself to smile for some time, but the moment had finally come. It felt good to be out of the prison jumpsuit, its course fabric had been an disgrace to her skin. She preferred expensive fabrics. Silk was one of her favourites, closely followed by the suede of her gloves. There would be new ones in the future.

She'd had to kill the first guard, of course. There had been no way to avoid that. But the second guy got away with a bullet in his thigh and shoulder each. The third one, who had been driving, might get away with a concussion and some bruised ribs if he was lucky. Depending on how long it would take to find them and the dead body in the back of the truck, of course. She couldn't just leave them by the roadside after all.

For now she would drive south. The uniform she had taken off of one of the men guarding her was only a small improvement to the jumpsuit, but driving their own security transport truck gave her a certain satisfaction. She would have to ditch it soon and find a new car to cross the border.

She was also in need of a new name. Orca... she liked the sound of it.

* * *

_Author's Note: First of all, thank you so much for reading and the reviews. I hope you liked reading a mission that passes the Bechdel test for once – and I even managed to keep everyone hydrated. Secondly, I did research a lot about autism to get Zero/Scott right, but if I made any mistakes, I'm very sorry. I really don't mean to offend anyone. I've grown quite fond of the character too, to be honest, same goes for Cordelia._

_I also enjoyed teaming up Zhen and Benji, which I somehow didn't expect._

_Anyway, till next time._

_Cheers x_


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